Elections complaint filed over residency of Wake County school board candidate

A Wake County school board candidate faces an election complaint questioning where he lives and whether he violated campaign finance report laws.

Jessica Smith, a Holly Springs resident, has asked the North Carolina State Board of Elections to see whether school board candidate Steve Bergstrom violated election laws by listing a home he no longer lives in as his address.

Bergstrom says the paperwork to list his new address in the district has been filed. Bergstrom is running for the District 8 southwest Wake seat held by school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey.

“Lindsay and her supporters don’t have much to run on or to go on so they’re trying to throw mud against the wall to see if it sticks,” Bergstrom said in an interview.

Smith says she’s a volunteer in Mahaffey’s re-election campaign. But Smith says she filed the complaint on her own and didn’t consult Mahaffey.

“I’m focusing on my own campaign,” Mahaffey said in an interview. “I don’t really spend a lot of time focusing on where Mr. Bergstrom puts his head at night.”

Residency questioned

Residency of school board members became an issue earlier this year after Craston Artis was selected to fill a vacancy on the board. Artis withdrew after it became known that he hadn’t moved into the district until after the board voted to appoint him.

The school board is divided into nine districts. Board members have to reside within the district they’re serving.

Bergstrom, an airline pilot, unsuccessfully ran against Mahaffey in 2020. He’s part of a group of Republican-backed candidates who want to shift the Democratic majority on the school board to a more conservative direction.

When Bergstrom filed to run on July 8, he listed as his address his home in Fuquay-Varina.

But in Smith’s campaign finance complaint, she notes that Wake County property records show Bergstrom sold the home on July 13. Smith accuses Bergstrom of providing false and incorrect information and violating state law by not updating his campaign reports after the home was sold and continuing to list his old address in new reports.

“If you were a candidate, wouldn’t you cross all your I’s and dot all your T’s?” Smith said in an interview. “He says he’s all about transparency but this isn’t very transparent.”

State voter registration records still list Bergstrom’s address as his Fuquay-Varina home. But Bergstrom provided The News & Observer with a copy of the voter registration form he says he submitted listing an apartment in Holly Springs as his new address. The apartment is in the same district.

“Candidates do sell their home from time to time,” Bergstrom said.

Bergstrom said he’s been in contact with the State Board of Elections about his residency.

Patrick Gannon, a spokesman with the State Board of Elections, said state law makes campaign finance investigations confidential so he can’t provide information on any complaint.

But Gannon said elections board staff have spoken to Bergstrom’s treasurer about campaign finance reporting.

Attended Marjorie Taylor Greene event

Bergstrom and some other Wake school board candidates have come under fire for attending Friday’s Wake County Republican Party fundraiser featuring controversial U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“D8 Candidate @steveforschools at a recent MAGA sycophancy convention,” Apex Democrats tweeted Saturday. “We trust voters will reject the vitriol, lies, & lunacy spread by the likes of MTG. Let’s keep supporters well away from the @WCPSS Board of Ed.”

Bergstrom said he had bought tickets long before Greene was announced as the speaker. Bergstrom said he attended the fundraiser to show support for his volunteers and his supporters.

During the fundraiser, Greene repeated the unproven claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Bergstrom said he was in and out of the room during Greene’s speech and didn’t hear her remarks about the election.

“I’m not concerned about what a representative from Georgia says about the election in 2020,” Bergstrom said. “I’m concerned about Wake County Schools in 2022.”